Published 12:55 am, Sunday, November 21, 2010

Artwork by Margo Mensing, part of "The Other End of the Line." (Michael Janairo)

Artwork by Margo Mensing, part of "The Other End of the Line." (Michael Janairo)

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Artwork by Richard Garrison, part of "The Other End of the Line." (Michael Janairo)

Artwork by Richard Garrison, part of "The Other End of the Line." (Michael Janairo)

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Artwork by Michael Oatman, part of "The Other End of the Line." (Michael Janairo)

Artwork by Michael Oatman, part of "The Other End of the Line." (Michael Janairo)

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Artwork by Ken Ragsdale, part of "The Other End of the Line." (Michael Janairo)

Artwork by Ken Ragsdale, part of "The Other End of the Line." (Michael Janairo)

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Artwork by Chris Harvey, part of "The Other End of the Line." (Michael Janairo)

Artwork by Chris Harvey, part of "The Other End of the Line." (Michael Janairo)

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Artwork by Gina Occhiogross, part of "The Other End of the Line." (Michael Janairo)

Artwork by Gina Occhiogross, part of "The Other End of the Line." (Michael Janairo)

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The exterior of the trailer used in "The Other End of the Line." (Michael Janairo)

The exterior of the trailer used in "The Other End of the Line." (Michael Janairo)

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Trailer talk and high art

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I've been spending a lot of time in trailers lately looking at art.

At MASS MoCA, I saw Michael Oatman's Airstream as part of "All Utopias Fell," which Tim Kane wrote about in these pages earlier this month. The gleaming, rounded aluminum body of the Airstream is full of pop-cultural kitsch value, with connotations about American ideals of mobility and the open road, of the past's idea of the future. (Oatman's installation will be open seasonally; it closes later this month and will reopen in the spring.)

In Manhattan, I visited Francis Cape's "The Other End of the Line," an installation of a mobile home at the terminus of the High Line in Manhattan that serves as a gallery for work by upstate artists, including Oatman.

The trailer used for Cape's "The Other End of the Line," however, lacks kitsch. There's nothing ironic about it. It looks like a trailer home from any trailer park, though now it is parked as an art installation (it opened last month and closes today) under one of the fanciest and newest public parks in New York City, the High Line.

The High Line was originally raised train tracks for freight cars, carrying goods from Manhattan to upstate locations. 1980 marked the last time the tracks were used to carry freight. In 2009, a section opened as a park, with wide pathways, benches to sit in and plenty of gardens keeping pedestrians away from the edges. The High Line goes through the Meatpacking District, Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen, once tough neighborhoods that had become havens for artists and galleries, and more recently have seen an influx of new apartments and high-end boutiques.

In short, the High Line is pretty fancy. So having a trailer home parked at its terminus at Gansevoort and Washington streets creates a startling juxtaposition.

When Ian Berry of the Tang Museum at Skidmore College told me about Cape's project, my first reaction was that the trailer home would only confirm a certain stereotype of upstaters.

Berry, who curated the work of 13 upstate artists on display inside the trailer, said that was precisely Cape's point: He wanted to thwart the assumptions of people living downstate by revealing worthy works of art in an unexpected space.

Walking into the trailer feels a bit like a violation. In the kitchen, a layer of rolled linoleum doesn't quite cover the entire floor. At the edges, squared-off pieces have been cut away as if to go around objects -- maybe shelves or bookcases -- that are no longer there. Instead, it reveals another layer of linoleum underneath. It feels recently abandoned.

Berry's choice of artists for the exhibit includes six from the Capital Region. In addition to two collages from Oatman, the other Capital Region artists are Richard Garrison, who is featured on this page and whose conceptual work is inspired by big box stores that dot upstate communities; Chris Harvey, whose work includes a framed human-shaped target overlaid by an intricate, blood-red design; Margo Mensing, who creates a tapestry of the Indian Point nuclear plant through a collage of security envelope fragments; Ken Ragsdale, who photographs scenes of intricate models made of paper; and Gina Occhiogrosso, who has a video playing on a TV on the kitchen counter showing her pulling a large dollhouse over grassy terrain and then sawing it to pieces.

All of these artists have shown in the Capital Region, and some of the work in "The Other End of the Line" has been exhibited in our area. For example, Occhiogrosso's video is part of a piece that is now displayed as part of the Mohawk Hudson Regional at the Hyde Collection in Glens Falls (which is up through Jan. 2). The video at the Hyde, however, plays inside the very same dollhouse, now put back together.

The point of Cape's installation is probably something upstaters already know: a depth of visual art talent exists in the Capital Region. Perhaps the best part of all the talent around us is that it can often be seen for free in places such as the Albany Airport Gallery, Albany Center Gallery, Saratoga Arts in Saratoga Springs, the Arts Center of the Capital Region in Troy and Lake George Arts Project in Glens Falls. This list, of course, isn't complete; these are just the places that first come to mind that I know of that have shown the work of the six artists who are part of Cape's installation.

Does the installation succeed? Yes, because it challenges assumptions of what upstate means and gives talented artists exposure, showing that quality exists at "The Other End of the Line."

But don't take my word for it. The New Yorker magazine said of the exhibition: "The result is a charming group show with strong work. ... The funky feel of the space is a refreshing counterpoint to the all the white-cube big-box stores in Chelsea."